OLPC security expert resigns over reorg as project flounders

The One Laptop Per Child's director of security has resigned in response to …

Ivan Krsti?, the director of security architecture for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project, has resigned in response to recent changes in management within the organization. His resignation comes at a difficult time for OLPC, which has suffered from numerous setbacks in recent months.

The OLPC Project has developed a low-cost laptop designed for students and intended for bulk sale to governments in developing countries. The project brought together the best and brightest of the MIT media labs and other experts from the industry and led to the creation of the XO Laptop, a highly innovative mobile computer with some unique hardware. Although the hardware itself is promising, the price has increased from $100 to $188 during development and demand for bulk sales has been slow. OLPC faces other problems as well, including numerous delays, a dubious $20 million patent infringement lawsuit from Nigerian keyboard maker LANCOR, and a rockyrelationship with Intel.

In the wake of all these problems, project leader Nicholas Negroponte announced plans to restructure OLPC and revealed that the organization was searching for a CEO who would make it operate "more like Microsoft." The shift towards a more business-like strategy was seen as a way to distance the project from its ivory tower roots and shift focus away from research and towards practical product delivery concerns.

Krsti?, who developed the OLPC server infrastructure and made countless other highly significant technical contributions to the project, says that the recent internal changes have led the organization astray. "Not long ago, OLPC undertook a drastic internal restructuring coupled with what, despite official claims to the contrary, is a radical change in its goals and vision from those that were shared with me when I was invited to join the project," Krsti? wrote in a blog entry earlier this week. "I cannot subscribe to the organization's new aims or structure in good faith, nor can I reconcile them with my personal ethic. Having exhausted other options, three weeks ago I resigned my post at OLPC."

The resignation of Krsti? seems to indicate that OLPC's attempt to reorganize is in deep trouble, if hasn't failed. The future of the project will likely be placed in jeopardy if additional key participants decide to leave their posts. At this stage, it seems unlikely that OLPC will be able to fulfill all of its ambitious goals.